Mags L Halliday
@magslhalliday.bsky.social
Writer. Waffler. Former redhead. Occasional public sector comms person. All views my own.
Currently open to commissions or interim roles.
She/Her.
Please use alt text on images.
www.magslhalliday.co.uk or https://linktr.ee/magslhalliday
Currently open to commissions or interim roles.
She/Her.
Please use alt text on images.
www.magslhalliday.co.uk or https://linktr.ee/magslhalliday
Pinned
twilight sparkle from my little pony laying on a shelf looking at a book
Alt: twilight sparkle from my little pony laying on a shelf reading a book and using her magic to flip the page.
media.tenor.com
It’s my 2026 books finished thread!
(For the purposes of the list, gazetteers where I’ve read the intro essays will also be counted.)
(For the purposes of the list, gazetteers where I’ve read the intro essays will also be counted.)
Strong wish this shouted “I’ll get you for that!” As the covers came off.
Worm your way to Wakefield Museum to meet our new not-so-little friend! 🪱
This giant Worms costume has kindly been lent to us by Team17. We're celebrating 30 years of Worms!
The worm is on display with a Banana Bomb, Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, and of course, a Concrete Donkey. 🪱🎮
#VideoGames
This giant Worms costume has kindly been lent to us by Team17. We're celebrating 30 years of Worms!
The worm is on display with a Banana Bomb, Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, and of course, a Concrete Donkey. 🪱🎮
#VideoGames
February 18, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Strong wish this shouted “I’ll get you for that!” As the covers came off.
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
Btw, the reason all these rich guys are having to turn to AI assistants to run their lives is that they don't realise how reliant their predecessors were on the invisible labour of women.
February 18, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Btw, the reason all these rich guys are having to turn to AI assistants to run their lives is that they don't realise how reliant their predecessors were on the invisible labour of women.
Good grief. Not one but two podcasts on something I wrote a long time ago, and about how you should be wary of people who want to control history.
February 18, 2026 at 9:49 AM
Good grief. Not one but two podcasts on something I wrote a long time ago, and about how you should be wary of people who want to control history.
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
Sure:
Light rail, high speed rail, ocean wave generation, solar power generation, wind generation, heat pump tech, geothermal heat pump tech, last mile on-demand transit solutions, better wheelchairs, better wheel chair lifts, better flexible seating on public transit, maker spaces, tool libraries.
Light rail, high speed rail, ocean wave generation, solar power generation, wind generation, heat pump tech, geothermal heat pump tech, last mile on-demand transit solutions, better wheelchairs, better wheel chair lifts, better flexible seating on public transit, maker spaces, tool libraries.
is there a technology that "the left" is excited about?
www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-i...
www.transformernews.ai/p/the-left-i...
The left is missing out on AI
As a movement, it has largely refused to engage seriously with AI, ceding debate about a threat and opportunity to the right
www.transformernews.ai
February 18, 2026 at 3:56 AM
Sure:
Light rail, high speed rail, ocean wave generation, solar power generation, wind generation, heat pump tech, geothermal heat pump tech, last mile on-demand transit solutions, better wheelchairs, better wheel chair lifts, better flexible seating on public transit, maker spaces, tool libraries.
Light rail, high speed rail, ocean wave generation, solar power generation, wind generation, heat pump tech, geothermal heat pump tech, last mile on-demand transit solutions, better wheelchairs, better wheel chair lifts, better flexible seating on public transit, maker spaces, tool libraries.
This is just bragging about being Terribly Busy.
The latest iteration of “I must be important - I have three phones on the train table in front of me!” signalling.
The latest iteration of “I must be important - I have three phones on the train table in front of me!” signalling.
February 18, 2026 at 8:44 AM
This is just bragging about being Terribly Busy.
The latest iteration of “I must be important - I have three phones on the train table in front of me!” signalling.
The latest iteration of “I must be important - I have three phones on the train table in front of me!” signalling.
This is a great essay. Woolf cataloguing her fears alongside her need to make lunch or buy a new hat.
An essay about something I always find interesting: English writers noticing the war ramping up around them. In this case, it's Virginia Woolf, via her diaries. (Another @longreads.com find.)
lareviewofbooks.org/article/dont...
lareviewofbooks.org/article/dont...
Don’t Close Your Teeth | Los Angeles Review of Books
Cynthia Zarin traces the rise of fascism through the diary entries of Virginia Woolf, in an essay from LARB Quarterly no. 47: “Security.”
lareviewofbooks.org
February 18, 2026 at 8:08 AM
This is a great essay. Woolf cataloguing her fears alongside her need to make lunch or buy a new hat.
Q for my friends who regularly go to gigs, especially album release gigs: if all the others in a tour have the artist on stage at 8pm, is there a reason the only Sunday show starts at 9pm?
February 17, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Q for my friends who regularly go to gigs, especially album release gigs: if all the others in a tour have the artist on stage at 8pm, is there a reason the only Sunday show starts at 9pm?
@exetercouncil.bsky.social your webpages about councilors and committee meetings appears to be offline. Both on my laptop (using DDG) and my phone (Safari).
February 17, 2026 at 3:35 PM
@exetercouncil.bsky.social your webpages about councilors and committee meetings appears to be offline. Both on my laptop (using DDG) and my phone (Safari).
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
We've been on the Northern Line. The idea that it's 2000 years old seems completely reasonable.
February 17, 2026 at 9:18 AM
We've been on the Northern Line. The idea that it's 2000 years old seems completely reasonable.
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
I live in the suburb of a city. I’m comfortable with people in my neighbourhood recognising me in an abstract way. I’m not comfortable with someone wearing glasses that can record me, or look up my name.
It’s creepy and will be used by creeps to make women feel less safe.
It’s creepy and will be used by creeps to make women feel less safe.
Can cities survive without the anonymity they give people?
Genuine question.
Genuine question.
Meta is putting a "Name Tag" feature in Ray-Bans - facial recognition through the glasses' camera. You look at someone, AI tells you who they are.
In an internal document, the company wrote that the timing is good because civil society groups are busy with politics and won't cause problems.
In an internal document, the company wrote that the timing is good because civil society groups are busy with politics and won't cause problems.
February 16, 2026 at 9:06 AM
I live in the suburb of a city. I’m comfortable with people in my neighbourhood recognising me in an abstract way. I’m not comfortable with someone wearing glasses that can record me, or look up my name.
It’s creepy and will be used by creeps to make women feel less safe.
It’s creepy and will be used by creeps to make women feel less safe.
Disappointingly, this call-out is for 18+ performers as I’ve a teen who would LOVE to be in this.
We are, of course, going to go see it.
We are, of course, going to go see it.
Feed me! | Little Shop of Horrors community cast auditions now open
Exeter Northcott continues its drive for theatre made by and for the community with a call for a community ensemble in Little Shop of Horrors
Exeter Northcott continues its drive for theatre made by and for the community with a call for a community ensemble in Little Shop of Horrors
Feed me! | Little Shop of Horrors community cast auditions now open
Exeter Northcott continues its drive for theatre made by and for the community with a call for a community ensemble in Little Shop of Horrors
www.theprsd.co.uk
February 16, 2026 at 8:59 AM
Disappointingly, this call-out is for 18+ performers as I’ve a teen who would LOVE to be in this.
We are, of course, going to go see it.
We are, of course, going to go see it.
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
![[Scene is a domestic kitchen. Night time. The room is all blue apart from warm orange-pink light streaming in from a streetlight outside. In the center of the room stands a woman named BRANDI, standing in pyjamas looking contemplative, the light cast dramatically on her face. At the doorway, leaning against the frame, her partner JOEL stands has woken up and found her in the kitchen.]
JOEL:
Honey… what are you doing?
BRANDI:
Can’t sleep
Guess I just like standing in the kitchen at 3am thinking about the supernatural threat we temporarily defeated last year.
While saying that out loud in a manner which sounds casually ironic but is actually just blatant exposition.
JOEL:
Brandi… you're talking strange...
BRANDI:
Dammit Joel.
It’s time you knew.
You're a Netflix character.
[Joel looks shocked]
BRANDI:
Everybody you know has been forced to speak to you in second screen dialogue.
Second screen dialogue helps the people scrolling their phones in front of the TV to follow the -
JOEL:
Stop explaining, Brandi!
[Hands on head, emotional expression, warm pink light cast on his face against the cool blue darkness of the room].
JOEL:
So that's why my entire life has looked so glossy and...
BRANDI:
Yep...
Warm/cool colour graded.
[Cut to a TV show TITLE SCREEN]:
SECOND SCREEN
- A Netflix original -
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreiaqlx75zejhvxpgq3f3k6mg2glczck3ooqjrgzzgfsf2xxo6fccwm@jpeg)
This is not a drill: Ilya Kuryakin is wearing his NHS specs in today’s episode on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
February 15, 2026 at 4:29 PM
This is not a drill: Ilya Kuryakin is wearing his NHS specs in today’s episode on @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
I'm not especially opposed to driverless cabs, but I'm fucked if I'm giving up my ancestral British right to cross the road anywhere if it's safe for me to do so. "Jaywalking" isn't a thing or a crime here, techbros, so your magic cars will have to learn to deal with that.
Politics London discussing driverless taxis casually referring to “jaywalking pedestrians”.
Jaywalking is not a thing in UK law.
Transport for London and Government had better not be asleep at the wheel on this.
Jaywalking is not a thing in UK law.
Transport for London and Government had better not be asleep at the wheel on this.
February 15, 2026 at 11:43 AM
I'm not especially opposed to driverless cabs, but I'm fucked if I'm giving up my ancestral British right to cross the road anywhere if it's safe for me to do so. "Jaywalking" isn't a thing or a crime here, techbros, so your magic cars will have to learn to deal with that.
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
It’s always a sad day when a company that’s horrible to its staff, openly insults its customers, is run by sexist pricks, & is built on dishonest marketing, goes under. 😢
So, it's goodbye to all that. A business wrecked by the arrogance of its founders- Poundshop Tesla
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Scottish craft beer brand Brewdog put up for sale
Consultants Alix Partners have been brought in to oversee the sales process which could lead to the businesses being broken up.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 14, 2026 at 12:11 PM
It’s always a sad day when a company that’s horrible to its staff, openly insults its customers, is run by sexist pricks, & is built on dishonest marketing, goes under. 😢
TIL that the company that makes crystal tat were active Nazis who decided against publishing a history of the family they had commissioned in “because it does nothing for the business.” (ie people stop buying crystal Mickey Mouses when they learn about the Nazism).
Always nice when Swarovski try to make themselves cool again.
Because then a whole new generation get to learn they were S-Tier Nazis in the 30s/40s.
"Enthusiastic funders/organizers even when the party was still banned" level.
"So bad they supressed their own commissioned official history" level
Because then a whole new generation get to learn they were S-Tier Nazis in the 30s/40s.
"Enthusiastic funders/organizers even when the party was still banned" level.
"So bad they supressed their own commissioned official history" level
It’s nice that swarovski crystals decided to make Funko Pops for people who are probably in the files
February 14, 2026 at 9:25 AM
TIL that the company that makes crystal tat were active Nazis who decided against publishing a history of the family they had commissioned in “because it does nothing for the business.” (ie people stop buying crystal Mickey Mouses when they learn about the Nazism).
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
*austin powers voice*
Do I make you Ayn Randy baby, do I?
Do I make you Ayn Randy baby, do I?
can you imagine how disappointed you’d be if you knew nothing about this book and only picked it up for this particular cover
February 14, 2026 at 8:45 AM
*austin powers voice*
Do I make you Ayn Randy baby, do I?
Do I make you Ayn Randy baby, do I?
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
Okay but she posted on Reddit after the broadcast that she realized partway through Double Jeopardy that this was her only way to win, and started deliberately picking clues/buzzing in to maximize the odds that they would be tied going into Final. Absolute galaxy brain.
February 13, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Okay but she posted on Reddit after the broadcast that she realized partway through Double Jeopardy that this was her only way to win, and started deliberately picking clues/buzzing in to maximize the odds that they would be tied going into Final. Absolute galaxy brain.
Cackling at this as it’s become a family joke that I shout “use!” At the TV when someone says “utilise”.
2. It uses unnecessarily complex words like "utilise" instead of "use", or "leverage" instead of "use", or "harness the power of" instead of "use". You get the idea.
February 13, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Cackling at this as it’s become a family joke that I shout “use!” At the TV when someone says “utilise”.
Wait? Is it Hugo nomination time? I actually have things that may be eligible!
2025 SFF awards eligibility » Mags L Halliday
Fictional work published in 2025 which may be eligible for various SF/F awards.
magslhalliday.co.uk
February 13, 2026 at 12:52 PM
Wait? Is it Hugo nomination time? I actually have things that may be eligible!
Tell me you live in the west country, number 367 in an on-going series.
Bath’s Charlcombe Lane closure begins for annual toad migration
Each evening from dusk, volunteers from the Charlcombe Toad Rescue Group will patrol the lane.
www.bathecho.co.uk
February 12, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Tell me you live in the west country, number 367 in an on-going series.
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
Because of this story I can never give signed books to charity and if I buy one which turns out to have an inscription I feel bad for the signatory
February 12, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Because of this story I can never give signed books to charity and if I buy one which turns out to have an inscription I feel bad for the signatory
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
February 11, 2026 at 10:03 PM
What's so amazing about Jim Henson as a puppeteer is that he could literally be explaining that Kermit is made out of felt and ping pong balls and yet Kermit still feels alive the whole time he's doing it
Reposted by Mags L Halliday
I don’t actually want UBI for artists.
I want either
- UBI for everybody
Or
- Artists to be paid properly for our work and property again.
It’s weird to think that *both* these options are now seen as naive, impractical and romantic.
I want either
- UBI for everybody
Or
- Artists to be paid properly for our work and property again.
It’s weird to think that *both* these options are now seen as naive, impractical and romantic.
February 12, 2026 at 6:56 AM
I don’t actually want UBI for artists.
I want either
- UBI for everybody
Or
- Artists to be paid properly for our work and property again.
It’s weird to think that *both* these options are now seen as naive, impractical and romantic.
I want either
- UBI for everybody
Or
- Artists to be paid properly for our work and property again.
It’s weird to think that *both* these options are now seen as naive, impractical and romantic.